6/09/00
Day 79
Low Gap shelter, GA
961.3 miles
Sorry about not keeping up with this for the last few days. I ended up pulling a couple more long days where I had to set up camp late and didn't feel much like writing by the time I lay down. Also, it was actually COLD for a short spell, and that discourages me from sticking my hands outside the sleeping bag. Today I only hiked about 13 miles and got here about 4:00, so it's not even time to start dinner yet.
It was still raining lightly when I hitched into Franklin. I was sort of looking forward to finding a motel room there to stay, but the couple who picked me up said they had about 1½ hours of errands in town and then they could pick me up and take me back to the Trailhead. That was too good an offer to pass up, so there I was back on the AT at 3:00 and I had to hustle to make it to Big Spring shelter before dark. Then, the next day, because some scout troup was monopolizing a shelter I would otherwise have stayed at, I ended up pulling another long day and camping at Bly Gap. That put me into position to hike to the road at Dick's Creek Gap and hitch into Hiawassee a day earlier than I'd planned.
The result of all this is that I had covered ground faster and was going to reach
Springer earlier than I'd expected. I called Rick from Hiawassee and told him
I'd be at Springer in 5 days, on Monday June 12th. That schedule allows me
to do shorter days for the most part and not wear myself out. I should pass
through Neels Gap sometime tomorrow and maybe I can mail this from there.
But I'll have probably reached Springer by the time you get this. Depending
on connections, I might be back at Harper's Ferry by June 14th. So take
that pushpin from the bottom of your map and move it back to the middle,
because from that point on I'll be a Northbounder!